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SOUL of Gerringong’s 10 top holiday home ownership tips

June 19, 2019 Leave a Comment

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“When I first started on my journey to becoming a holiday property owner, I relied on Dr Google to wade through website after website seeking answers,” says the owner of SOUL of Gerringong Simone Mathews. And given the stylish property quickly became one of Australia’s most popular holiday homes, Simone suddenly found herself inundated by fellow holiday home owners looking for advice.

Simone Mathews
Simone Mathews

A complementary arm to her holiday home business, SOUL Home is a place where holiday property owners can share real-life advice and find out about industry news, but we caught up with Simone recently to get her take on the top 10 things to consider when designing a holiday property.

1. Expectation
“When you style a holiday house, your guests are expecting to arrive and see the same ‘wow’ images from your website and social media. So, it’s important to find ways to style your property consistently with minimal fuss so you can turn it over quickly between guests, yet ensure the property looks incredible and inviting every single time,” says Simone.

SOUL of Gerringong
I’m pretty sure that SOUL of Gerringong exceeds guests’ expectations!

2. Create that ‘holiday feeling’
“Guests are escaping their daily hustle of today’s fast-paced world to stay at your property. So, you want your holiday property to have that ‘holiday feeling’ from the moment they arrive. Create a styled space, but not a sterile space. You want your guests to feel like they can put their feet up and not be scared to break anything,” says Simone.

3. Target market
“Understand your property’s target market and what they are looking for to plan your styling, rather than just injecting your own style. If you love a minimalist look though have bought a beach shack, you may need to put your style preferences aside to ensure the property complements its native environment,” says Simone.

4. Styling items: Can you afford to replace them?
“It is part and parcel of having a holiday property that things get damaged or broken.  When styling, don’t use pieces that you can’t afford to replace or pieces that will devastate you if they are damaged. You want your guests to respect your property and items, but you need to understand that accidents do happen,” says Simone.

SOUL of Gerringong's barn interior
SOUL of Gerringong’s barn interior

5. Break the rules
“Holiday accommodation needs to have a sense of fun and personality. You can break the rules! If you’re in a coastal area, have some fun and make the most of the breezy nature of the coast. At SOUL we have an anchor door knocker – it adds a bit of quirk to the coastal property,” says Simone who encourages people to have fun with artwork too.

6. The Boxing Day test
“Style is important, but it also needs to be practical. The Boxing Day test is to ensure that every person that your property can sleep can also be accommodated on the lounge or at the dining table. So, if your property sleeps eight, you need to seat eight on the lounge and at the dining table. Our own homes are designed to enjoy both quality times together and areas to find your own space. When on holidays, people want to come together and spend time as a group,” says Simone.

7. Storage
“In your own property, you need dedicated storage for everyday items like wardrobes and storage robes. In holiday properties, you can create open hanging spaces that can form part of your styling. Don’t waste space in holiday properties with excess storage that will not be utilised,” says Simone.

SOUL Cottage bedroom
SOUL Cottage bedroom

8. Use everyday items to add character
“In a holiday property, you can style your everyday items with open shelves, particularly in spaces like the kitchen. Place your stacks of plates, bowls and glasses on open shelves; not only are they then easy to find, they also look great,” says Simone.

9. Quality linen
“It’s easiest to stick with the same colour linen and bedding in your holiday property. It will save dollars with your laundry bill as they can all be washed together, rather than creating different loads for the cleaners and laundromat,” says Simone who suggests bringing in other colours through bed covers and throws instead.

10. Repeat laundering
“Make sure that everything that you incorporate in your styling can be laundered. The most common complaint for holiday properties is cleanliness. The last thing you want is your guests arriving and seeing a dirty cushion or throw. At home, you can hand wash these when needed. In a holiday property these items need to be turned around for the next guest. So, you might have your heart on a particular throw for the new lounge, but make sure it can be laundered.”

For more on SOUL Home | Australia’s best holiday homes with great design

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I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new @madeinaustshow in Sydney this August.

🦘🐨Forget every tacky association you ever had about touristy Australian made and prepare to see a showcase of the best of home, lifestyle, fashion and beauty made right here. If the pandemic has made you appreciate buying local even more, this is for you.

It's the first business to business trade event connecting retailers with Australian made products to champion our local makers🙏

Apply to exhibit or find out more at their website, via their bio, now!

Are YOU buying more Australian made post covid?

#madeinaustralia #australianmade #aussiemade #aussiedesign
Do I recommend a timber vanity top? A big fat NOP Do I recommend a timber vanity top?

A big fat NOPE! 💧 

Which is why we have recently covered ours with a Caesarstone top (thanks to @justinplace_sydney for the advice and supply) and the sweet RELIEF of not having to worry about this high traffic area anymore, I'm telling you!🤗

Doesn't matter what they tell you or how many times it's sealed, I'm not sure it's a great idea in a room which is so, well, wet!

I love having the warmth of timber in the bathroom and it's a beautiful piece, but timber on the top? Never again.

Ours probably lasted a year (if that) before it started to go downhill (and we want a good decade out of a bathroom, right?!). 2.5 years on, everything else in this bathroom looks virtually brand new and the water marked vanity top was really letting the side down and making me sad!

But I'm so pleased with this solution, I have to say! Took the plumber less than an hour to remove the sink, install the top and connect the sink back up. We didn't need to move the tap and it isn't too close to the basin.

The kids are allowed to brush their teeth and wash their hands (liquid soap 🥴) in here again and I can leave my hair straightener on there with gay abandon 😆

The reflective surface (which I can clean with whatever I like!💪🏻) brightens the room up too!

Next week I'll tell you what I really think of my brass tile trim too 😉

#interiorsaddictbathroomreno2 #interiorsaddictfamilyhomereno #timbervanity
Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

I think not!

Grab the recipe on the blog this morning via link in bio.
Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

✔️ I'm English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008😆 

✔️ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. 🛁 

✔️ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) 📓 

✔️ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London 🚔 

✔️I had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife 😁

✔️ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK ❤️ 🇬🇧 

✔️ At school, my favourite subject was French 🇫🇷 and I was head girl 🤓🤓

✔️ I'm addicted to ☕️ , long hot baths and💄 (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

✔️ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message 😁

✔️ My favourite cuisine is Japanese 🍣 🍜 and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

✔️ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

✔️ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or🍷 

✔️ Cheesy as it sounds, 💁‍♀️being a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life 🧒👦

✔️ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view 📖 

✔️ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

✔️ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker 😯 🅿️

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better 😘

📸 @vanlowvanlow
Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 @nood_co coloured con Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 

@nood_co coloured concrete basins is a great Aussie business success story. Although co founder Matt Di Costa first found fame as one half of Matt and Kim on The Block, he hasn't relied on this to build his brand.

“We are very honoured to have been a part of The Block, and all they have done for us. I am, however, a believer in letting the product take centre stage,” he says.

Read our interview with Matt via link in bio now.

🙏Share your favourite colour basin in the comments!

#colouredconcrete #noodco #colouredbasin #blockheads #the block #bathroomtrends2022

Pic 1 by @naibudesign_ and 2 by @twostyleinteriors
I'd love to see more colour in Aussie interiors! I'd love to see more colour in Aussie  interiors! 🎨 

At the end of the day though, it's a matter of personal taste. I love pops of colour but it's not for everyone. 

We couldn't resist featuring this Canadian house tour today. The amazing Kelly Green  hutch (swipe) was an upcycled $200 find 🤗

Head over to the blog via link in bio to see the rest including one of the best playrooms we've seen in ages!

Project by @in.house.design
📸 @philcrozier
Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis o Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis on light and nature.

That was the brief for the conversion of a corner shop and a warehouse bakery into a luxury family home in Sydney's Newtown. And how about the library?!

Take the tour of this very special @annacarindesign project on the blog now, via link in bio.

Pic: @justinalexanderphoto
The things that excite me as a 40 year old 🤭 N The things that excite me as a 40 year old 🤭

None of us enjoy laundry (OK, there are a few of you out there who do. Weird!) but we have to do it. And often. So if your laundry bin can be as good looking, functional and space saving as this, then why wouldn't you?!

I've lost track of how many baskets I've thrown out because they've gone soggy or mouldy. They look pretty, sure, but they're not fit for purpose and they're often messy and overflowing.

Here's what I love about his @brabantia_australia one:

✔️ ventilation holes
✔️ no need to remove the lid for small items plus it hides your dirty laundry from view
✔️ easily removable and washable inner laundry bag that velcros back on 
✔️ corrosion resistant so fine in bathroom or laundry 
✔️ Brabantia make things as sustainably as possible
✔️ compact, sleek, European design
✔️ 10 year warranty
✔️ tall and skinny so takes up less floor in my tiny laundry

The Rolls Royce of laundry bins? I think so 👌🏻

TOLD you this was going to be exciting!

Now I need to know, do you have your laundry basket in the bathroom, the laundry, every bedroom? We used to have one in each bedroom but moved to the laundry-only situation which I much prefer (one for colours and one for whites). My boys know to put their used clothes in the bin in the laundry each night and they're 7 and 3!  #raisingfuturehusbands

#gifted
"Living rooms are important spaces where our publi "Living rooms are important spaces where our public and private lives intersect."

So says stylist @nataliewalton in her gorgeous new book Style, the Art of Creating a Beautiful Home.

"They are where we gather to welcome guests and entertain. But they are also where we decompress and relax at the end of the day. Increasingly, they are open-plan spaces and need to work within a greater scheme. Bringing all the elements together cohesively requires care and consideration. And, if you want a space that lives up to its true potential, make it personal and create with conviction."

Read an extract, the chapter on elevating your living room, on the blog today via link in bio.

Published by @thamesandhudsonau Pix by @chriswarnes 

#livingroomdesigns #nataliewalton #coffeetablebooks #designbooks #interiorsbooks #livingroominteriors #elevateyourspace
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Amy Collins Walker

About Amy Collins Walker

Amy is our regular feature writer, an experienced journalist and interior stylist living in Perth, Western Australia. Find out more about her styling work at http://www.amycollinswalker.com/

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